The Long Mars

‘Really? What base? . . . If you’re mentioning asteroids I suppose you’re talking about outer space. Of course these days you’re in with the Oort cloud, as you put it.’

His grin could be surprisingly quirky. ‘My best jokes are like fine wine; they improve with age. But I wouldn’t have needed to work from the Oort cloud for this operation. A small near-Earth asteroid could have been deflected in for an impact in a matter of days, or less. Even hours if it was close enough. Of course, I’d have to make sure the area was clear, and put out warnings to any pioneers sniffing around for salvage, and set up some kind of system to help anybody who comes falling here, down through the soft places in that mysterious way, like Rich and George . . .’

She linked her arm with his. ‘Not today. Come on. Let’s get some breakfast, and take our lost boys home.’

But he didn’t move. He glanced over readings on the screens before him. ‘The boys are safely aboard, aren’t they?’

‘Yes. Still asleep in back. Why do you ask?’ Something beyond the window distracted her. ‘Lobsang?’

‘Yes?’

‘What’s that light in the sky?’

‘Agnes, I wasn’t quite honest with you. As soon as I picked up that message from the Next, I started making the preparations. I could easily have turned the rock away if it had seemed appropriate.’

‘That light that’s now falling from the sky – you’ve had a busy night, haven’t you? I’m supposed to be your conscience. What have you done, Lobsang? What have you done?’

To monitor the consequences, Lobsang had launched balloons, drone aircraft and even a couple of nanosats from the twain. And so Agnes saw it all.

In its last moments of existence the asteroid angled in across North America. It punched through Earth’s atmosphere in fractions of a second, blasting away the air, leaving a tu

And a boulder of ice and dust the size of a small house hit the ground.

The asteroid itself was utterly destroyed. The ground around the impact point was scoured by a blast of molten rock and superheated steam, by shock waves in the air, by flying debris, and then shattered by waves passing through the bedrock.

It was only a small asteroid strike, as such strikes go. The shallow crater would soon cool; there was no lingering radiation. Nobody was hurt. Nobody ever would be hurt because of this.

But Happy Landings was no more.

46

ACCORDING TO THE BARDO Thodol, in the sidpa bardo the spirit body could span continents in a moment. It could arrive at any place it desired in the time it took to reach out a hand.

And yet, Lobsang wondered, could even the spirit body reach into the human heart?

Acknowledgements

Some of the ideas behind the ‘Great Leap Sideways’ episode (chapter 15) featured in The Science of Discworld, by T.P. with Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen (1999).

All errors and inaccuracies are of course our sole responsibility.

T.P.

S.B.

December 2013, Datum Earth

About the Authors

TERRY PRATCHETT is one of the world’s most popular authors. He is the wi

STEPHEN BAXTER is an acclaimed, multiple-award-wi

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www.stephen-baxter.com

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